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Alec Klein
Eastman Kodak has seen the future: It is female, barely adolescent, and apt to be watching "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." In an attempt to boost sales in what it regards as a lucrative demographic group, Kodak is launching its first youth marketing campaign, one that targets "tween" girls -- generally defined as those nine to 15 years old. Kodak's internal marketing presentations proclaim that this is an era of "girl power" in which females 13 to 15 are "hyper consumers" and the "key drivers of today's trends and pop culture."
Kodak, Rochester, N.Y., says it will spend about $75 million over five years to reach tweens through television, radio, print and Internet banner ads created by the Saatchi & Saatchi ad agency. The world's largest photography concern, which spends more than $100 million a year in US consumer advertising, will also advertise to tweens in more subtle ways, putting the Kodak name on school textbook covers and on the pages of kids' day-planners.
Officials declined to project the potentialrevenue arising from the campaign, but they said they would consider it a success if they garner added sales of even part of one per cent, or several hundred million dollars, of the $130 billion in annual spending attributed to Generation Y, those born between 1978 and 1998.
Kodak is expected to announce the youth initiative on Wednesday and will kick off the campaign in mid-August, in time for back-to-school shopping. Expect to see Kodak ads on such teen television shows as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Dawson's Creek."
Kodak declines to say how much of its current $3.34 billion in annual US consumer sales is attributed to the nine-to-15 crowd. But it is no secret that young teenagers are among the biggest buyers of disposable cameras, which the new campaign hopes to boost.
A company study shows that tween girls are more likely than boys to own a camera, 75 per cent to 49 per cent. An independent study used by Kodak shows that teen girls consider taking pictures as popular as dating. And pictures,they say, are more important possessions than their own pets.
Dave Hardie, general manager of marketing for consumer imaging in the US and Canada, says, "Tween girls like taking pictures, like pictures and they like Kodak, but we see an opportunity for them to take a lot more pictures."
In a general vein, Kodak's campaign isn't that different from many others attempting to begin brand loyalty at an early age. But if the in-house marketing summaries are any guide, Kodak's ads won't be overly reserved about exploiting the vulnerabilities of adolescence.
In the tween market, the documents say, "social situations, especially boy/girl, are charged with both anxiety/awkwardness and excitement/eagerness" while the "main struggle" equals "identity and belonging." Thus Kodak would like to make girls see how they can be the "center of attention and yet be safe behind the camera" while "reinforcing the role of picture-taking in teen socialization." Among other things, Kodak says photography "lowersinhibitions."
In its print ads, Kodak beckons to tween girls by saying that its disposable cameras "get guys to smile at you with the touch of a button" and that the camera "attracts a crowd like flies to the school cafeteria."
Kodak considers the core of the tween market that it is seeking those between the ages of 14 and 15. The campaign will be centered on its Max One-Time-Use Cameras, disposable cameras that are portable, go for about $10 apiece and don't break easily - all ideal for young shutterbugs.
Kodak isn't the only photography concern targeting the young crowd.
Polaroid, Cambridge, Mass., has recently made a big push to reach teenagers and young adults with new instant cameras. Other film makers, including Konica of Japan, have aimed new black-and-white film, which is popular in high-school photography classes, at teenagers. Fuji Photo Film mails to 68,000 fourth-grade and fifth-grade classroom teachers free curriculum materials, including a course guide combining photography with othersubjects, such as geography. Fuji also gives teachers free disposable cameras.
"We want to introduce children to the fun aspect of picture-taking and Fuji as a brand in that category," says Matt Knickerbocker, vice-president of marketing of Fuji's US unit.
Although photography is already popular among young girls, there is room for growth: Of the girls in Kodak's study, 52 per cent say they take pictures rarely. To win more adherents, in December Kodak began formulating its tween campaign with a team of six marketers from its US consumer division, based in Atlanta.
The company typically uses Ogilvy & Mather for general advertising, but turned to Saatchi & Saatchi's special youth unit to help create the tween campaign. Saatchi's Kid Connection division comes with a battery of more than 50 marketers with its own youth research, including what Kodak calls the ad firm's "cultural and psychological insights" on the target.
(The Asian Wall Street Journal)
Copyright © 1999 Indian ExpressNewspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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